Service Robots

Social AI Agents in Service: The New Frontier

This dissertation examines how the rising deployment of AI agents across service settings reshapes the social expectations placed on these technologies — shifting the conversation from what AI agents can do technically to how they must behave socially to be accepted and effective.

Do Robots Serve Brands' Socially Responsible Image? How Mixed Signals Shape Consumers' Brand Preference and Engagement

Across four studies, we show that deploying service robots and engaging in CSR are not always compatible strategies — brands with high fit CSR suffer more from introducing robots, driven by misaligned consumer attributions about profit maximization motives.

I Care That You Don’t Share: Confidentiality in Student-Robot Interactions

Enabled by technological advances, robot teachers have entered educational service frontlines. Scholars and policymakers suggest that during Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), human teachers should remain “in-the-loop” (i.e., oversee interactions between …

Do we think and feel alike? Field evidence on developing a shared reality when dealing with service robots

Service robot research recognizes that dyadic customer–service provider interactions do not occur in isolation, yet it has not comprehensively detailed human–robot interaction (HRI) in collective service settings. The current article analyzes 1107 …

Introducing the Service Robot Innovation Canvas

Service robots present a new frontier in the provision of services, with far-reaching implications for customers and managers alike. The purpose of this chapter is to examine how service robots impact service providers' current marketing strategies. …

Customer comfort during service robot interactions

Customer comfort during service interactions is essential for creating enjoyable customer experiences. However, although service robots are already being used in a number of service industries, it is currently not clear how customer comfort can be …

Emotional communication by service robots: a research agenda

**Purpose:** Many service industries are facing severe labor shortages. As a result, service providers are turning to new sources of labor, such as service robots. Critics however often point out that service robots lack emotional communication …